Chapter 694
Chapter 694 - 680: Medical Team
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When the sun finally set, and the dark, dense forest, Anfeya heaved a sigh of relief.
Though the night was never calm, and the twilight of this world was even colder, the limited visibility could make the exhausted Red Star people much safer.
The darkness couldn’t block the beasts’ sense of smell and night vision, but for the hunted, it was the most effective barrier against their own kind.
"Any news from Samuel’s end?"
"Nothing for now..."
No news from the sentries might be the best news for Captain Anfeya.
She glanced at her companions: out of the original twelve-man team, only six remained, all of them injured...
"... How long can we drag this out?"
The pitch-black night was not completely safe; the last time their camp was attacked, it happened as night fell.
The darkness could only limit the hunters’ field of vision, while light would be fatal in this environment. To avoid them, the wounded had been without fire for a week.
With no cooked food or hot water, and even the barely edible biscuits rationed, the wounded couldn’t carry on for much longer.
"Sergeant Yelena, how much medicine and food do we have left?"
Medic Yelena shook her head. They had been eating biscuits once a day, yet they could last at most another week.
Medicine? Most ordinary medicines had become blind boxes in this world, with a 90% chance of harm and 10% of help. Though the taboo items and magic potions procured by the healer still worked, they had been completely consumed in earlier battles.
The team’s healer had done her best, but in an environment where there was nothing left, she was helpless.
Anfeya glanced at her comrades, some resignedly lying on the ground, others in so much pain that they writhed from time to time.
She knew her fellow soldiers had reached their limit.
This was just a single medical team, composed of the logistics personnel Samuel, Anfeya, and Yelena.
But after being ambushed by the Aus people, their main force had been dispersed, and they could only flee for their lives... The medical team, the strongest in terms of actual combat strength, had to carry the wounded and keep retreating.
Why were the medics the strongest? Because all three were true professionals. Ordinary soldiers could function to some degree in the Exotic Realm, but ordinary doctors and nurses might be useless. Without the help of modern technology, they would likely have to start over from scratch.
The logistics medics had initially been in a separate resting area. They had survived the first wave of attacks, and thus became the least injured in the team.
At first, the three could carry more wounded, but after being caught up several times, they could only hold one person each and run for their lives.
With a lack of medicine, food, and water, the wounded were in bad shape, but the most deadly thing was the hopeless reality.
Some wounded had already chosen to give up before... Not everyone had the courage to carry on in a desperate situation.
"... We don’t know when the next batch of explorers will arrive. They most likely won’t have any information about us and will probably end up in the same situation as we are..."
Being cut off from information in their homeland was the most brutal reality. The earliest reinforcements would arrive in over a month, and they were most likely just a regular team coming to help with the "shift change".
"Heh, I wonder if those bureaucrats would send any reinforcements before we turn into skeletons." No one was counting on reinforcements because it was simply not realistic.
If they waited for the Red Star’s home front to realize something was wrong, go through the bureaucratic system, and finally dispatch a legion that could stand up to the domestic Aus, it would take at least three or four months to a conservative estimate, and if they were unlucky, maybe even half a year or never at all.
Trapped in a desperate situation, unable to rely on reinforcements, and with supplies of food and medicine cut off, could there be any worse situation...
A sudden earthquake, as if the mountains were trembling and the earth dragons were turning over.
"Don’t move! Don’t move!"
A gigantic beast slowly walked past them.
They dared not move or make a sound, even if they knew it was futile... These huge creatures wouldn’t attack you because of your noise, nor would they spare you because of your resistance.
This didn’t mean they hadn’t noticed you... When the giant beasts passed by, the injured soldiers felt as though they were being "watched."
They didn’t die, simply because they were ignored.
It was like pedestrians seeing ants crossing the street. If someone intentionally went to crush them, it would make that person seem tasteless and boring.
However, no one could guarantee that their luck would continue to hold out. They might encounter someone with a peculiar taste, who didn’t mind the trouble and liked eating "ants climbing a tree."
Pressure, injuries, fatigue, and hunger accumulated. Whether physically or mentally, the wounded had reached their limit... Some of them even begged to be left behind, so the Healers could escape on their own.
In this desperate situation, 20-year-old Anfiya made her decision.
Running away would only delay the inevitable.
"... We need supplies, medicine, and vehicles. Only the Aus people have these things..."
In the end, they decided not to run.
Lu Ping’an was in the woods... lying down while moving?
He was lying on a stretcher pulled by Little Flame, accompanied by four wolf kings: Little Lu, Little An, Little Meow, and Little Wang. A dense pack of wolves surrounded him.
All he needed to do was lie down, flip through books and look at the textbooks and training manuals given by the fire teachers, and he was getting closer to his destination.
He didn’t try to find the Red Star people because he didn’t have their "relic." The previous owners of those badges had most likely entered their graves.
But he had his own train of thought...
"So those mercenaries chasing the Red Star people are just ahead? You’re such good hunting-dogs."
Lu Ping’an casually took out a pile of fresh meat strips and directly fed them to the hardworking dogs looking for the path.
He didn’t have the Red Star people’s belongings, but he had the belongings of the mercenaries left behind at the camp. Borrowing these "odors," the wolf pack had been trained as "hunting-dogs" and quickly found their target.
"Tsk, watching you guys eat so happily..."
Putting thoughts into action, Lu Ping’an casually took out several freshly roasted skewers of meat to comfort himself.
The courtyard had other potential uses, with skills waiting for him to advance further. However, just the logistics advantage made his appreciation grow.
[... Using delicious unnamed creature’s roasted meat (unpolluted), Physique gained an extremely small increase...]
The local life forms had an incredibly strong vitality and were pollution-free. They were perfect for the "gourmet" and "chef" paths’ augmentation.
Not only Lu Ping’an but also the entire team feasted on the food. Though the augmentation effect was weak, it was difficult to resist the simple improvement of the foundation.
This kind of minuscule improvement might not compare to Earth’s "polluted food," but...
"It’s so delicious! Too delicious!" The overwhelming life force transformed into energy, and the satisfaction of each bite made even the not-so-greedy Lu Ping’an unable to resist.
Even Hua Xueyi and Meow, who were originally more concerned about their weight, inevitably grew eating all the way.
He was indeed enjoying his meal. But accidentally, with a leg in his left hand, a wing in his right hand, and grease around his mouth, he was carried into... the middle of a battlefield?!
"Yo? Still fighting? Don’t stop, I’m having lunch. We can chat after I’m done eating?"
The fighting sides were stunned for a moment, staring dumbfounded at the Eastern man who suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
He just lowered his head, took another ferocious bite of the fragrant roasted meat.
"Ha, so delicious... uh, wait, I choked! Is there any water?!"
— End of Chapter 694 —